A Kiss for Christmas
by da-angel729
Summary: Remus and Tonks go ice-skating and have a conversation neither was expecting. December, OotP.


**Disclaimer/Author's Note: **I own nothing but the plot, the characters belong to J.K. Rowling. This was originally written for the "Christmas Moon Fic Advent" at the "MetamorficMoon" community at Live Journal with the following prompt: _ice-skating _and_ mist _and_ fog._ Enjoy!

**A Kiss For Christmas**

Remus Lupin was not sure how he ended up with skates on his feet, carefully making his way around an ice-skating rink, but he was certain it had to do with the woman who had, once again, fallen over while attempting a spin.

"Why do you keep trying those?" Remus asked as he helped her up, nearly falling over in the process.

"Eventually, I'll spin all the way around, and this will all be worth it," Nymphadora Tonks replied with a grin as she regained her balance. Surprisingly, the slightly clumsy Auror knew how to ice-skate, and she was good at it. Better than Remus, anyway.

Remus felt wobbly and off-balance as he moved around the rink. This, when he thought about it, was the way he had been feeling for the last few months—ever since a young woman with bubblegum pink hair walked into Grimmauld Place, introduced herself as "Tonks" and promptly tripped over the umbrella leg stand. She laughed it off, and shook his hand. And he was smitten.

"You're never going to get anywhere if you don't let go of the wall," Tonks' amused voice cut through his musings. She was skating backward in front of him. Remus looked up from the ice, his foot slipped out from under him, and he and Tonks fell.

"On second thought, maybe you're just really bad at this."

Remus started to laugh, and Tonks grinned at him. Her observation had been correct: he was not good at ice-skating. At all. She stood up and held her hand out for him to grasp, and she was able to balance him as he stood up.

"Thanks," Remus said after regaining his footing. "Shall we get some chocolate?"

"Sure," Tonks said, and they skated, side-by-side, to the concession stand, where paper cups of hot chocolate were available, mist rising from them. Tonks, Remus noticed, blew on the hot chocolate before taking a small sip, and the mist wavered before moving back to the middle of the cup.

Remus gulped down his cup, threw it away, and noticed Tonks staring at him.

"What?"

"Do you normally gulp down boiling hot beverages without even noticing?" Tonks asked, and there was amazement in her voice.

"Er…yes, actually," Remus said, smiling slightly. "When we were younger, Sirius would never let us sip a hot beverage. He said it was undignified to blow on a cup, so James and I learned how to do it. Peter never did, though. But it's not that hard once you get used to it."

"I'll take your word for it," Tonks said. "And I'll continue to be undignified, thank you."

"I didn't say that I thought it was undignified," Remus protested, his smile growing. "I said Sirius thought so. My tongue felt burned for days after the first time we all tried." Remus was full out grinning now as he thought about that December day their first year at Hogwarts. "Professor McGonagall thought we were sick, they way all of us were coughing. It was great."

"I'm sure," Tonks said, and she was grinning as well. "I wish I could have met James. You and Sirius talk about him with such affection."

Remus suddenly wished he had his hot chocolate back so he would have something to do with his hands, which were curled into fists in his jacket pocket. He absolutely did not want to talk about James right now. He had gotten used to not talking about James around Sirius, unless Sirius mentioned him first, and was reluctant to talk about James with anyone. But he knew Tonks was expecting some sort of response, so he smiled and said, with sincerity, "James would have loved you. You're enough like him so that you wouldn't mind his pranks, and it's tempered with common sense. He would have come up with an outlandish scheme, and you would have made it seem easy."

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Tonks knew she had touched on a sensitive subject, and she was cursing herself while he hesitated. When Remus had asked if she wanted to go ice-skating to get away from Grimmauld Place for a while, she had sworn she would not talk about anything to do with the past. And she had been doing fine, until she brought up James.

Tonks realized, as Remus continued his reasoning on why James would like her, was that he was likely describing the role he played in their schemes. That he saw her as someone akin to himself was thrilling, though Tonks did linger over the reason why.

"That sounds like you," Tonks said. When his eyes darted to hers, surprise in them, Tonks realized she had voiced her thoughts. "I mean, it's not bad, you're a great person, you know."

Remus smiled at her and ignored her last statement. "Are you done with your drink? It's getting late, and we should probably go."

"Yes, I'm done." Tonks threw her cup away and they walked, carefully, to a bench to undo their rented skates, and Remus took them back to the rental counter.

Cold fog swirled around them as they walked back to her flat, and though Tonks was cold, she did not suggest Apparating. She was enjoying the time with Remus, who she had been attracted to from the first time they met—even more so after he did not laugh over her clumsiness, like Sirius had. Remus fascinated her. He was mostly quiet and unassuming, but occasionally he displayed a mischievousness that seemed to surprise him as much as it did others. Sirius referred to it as his "inner Marauder" and explained the term to Tonks one night after an Order meeting. Remus had just laughed.

Remus must have noticed she was cold, because his arm came around her, hesitantly, and pulled her close. Tonks was warmer almost immediately, since Remus radiated heat. She tentatively put her arm around him. They slowed down, and the fog thinned out the closer they got to their destination. Tonks laughed, and Remus looked down at her.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, I was just thinking," Tonks replied. "The fog has been thinning out since we've been walking together. I think it's the body heat."

Tonks flushed as soon as the words came out of her mouth, but Remus just laughed. "Shall we do something to really make the fog thin out?"

"What?" It squeaked out of her as she tripped. Over what, she didn't know. But Remus caught her before she fell, and when he pulled her back up he was smiling. "Am I going to be doing this a lot?"

"Probably," Tonks admitted, warming inside at the casual question that spoke of more dates. Then, drawing a deep breath, she inquired, "What did you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know," Remus said, but the hint of laughter was gone from his voice. He sounded nervous, Tonks noted, and her heart skipped a beat. "I was thinking a kiss, because we're under some mistletoe."

Tonks looked up, and mistletoe was directly over her head, hanging in mid-air. She smiled, nervously, and then looked back at his face. He was just as nervous as she was, Tonks realized, and felt her smile grow wider.

"A kiss for Christmas," Tonks said, and Remus leaned down.

Tonks' first thought was that it could hardly count as a kiss, since his lips barely brushed hers. Within seconds, though, her arms were around his neck and his wrapped around her, pulling her closer, as if he let go she would disappear. She sighed softly because nothing in her life had ever felt as right as Remus kissing her.

They broke apart after what seemed like hours, but Remus did not let her go. They stood there, on the corner of the street, while the fog swirled around them.

"Well," Remus said finally, "do you want to do this again sometime?"

Tonks felt laughter bubble in her throat. They began to walk again. "Sure, but we don't have to wait for Christmas and conjured mistletoe, do we?"

"Definitely not," Remus said, smiling slightly. "I meant, go out again, but we can do this, too."

"I'd like that," Tonks said softly, which earned her a quick kiss.

"Me too," Remus replied, and he looked younger than he had all night. As they approached Tonks' flat, they stopped again. He gave her another quick kiss, and then stepped off the porch. "Merry Christmas, Tonks."

"Merry Christmas, Remus."


End file.
